Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, the government is confident that the boards of the ABC and SBS can find efficiencies without affecting production and without affecting content over the various platforms of the two organisations—that there are savings that can be made in the back of house.

The proposition of those opposite is actually quite absurd. What we are saying—and I think what the Australian public expects—is that organisations should be as efficient as they can be. The alternative to that is that organisations should be needlessly inefficient. That is not a proposition that we can support. In relation to the dollar figure that was cited, that relates to a contract which the foreign affairs portfolio had with the ABC, which has now been concluded by this government.